How likely is it that your accent will naturally change?

For example, if you moved from one region of the US to another which had a different accent, how likely is it that your's will adapt? Why is it that some people's accents change, but other's stay the same?

Do accents actually change? Or do people just "learn" new accents that they only use when speaking in enviornments where people have that particular "new" dialect/accent?

I personally experiences cases where people have moved away to a different region and even when they return to visit, their accent is still their "new" one, and not their original.

From my own personal experience, I have changed the way I speak quite a lot in the ten years since I moved away from the north east of England (where I grew up).

I live in the south now and I have almost completely eliminated the colloquialisms we use in the north east – there are probably a few hundred words used there that aren’t understood in other parts of England. I’ve also softened the pronunciation of many words – there are certain words I know people will have difficulty understanding. I still have the basis of my original accent, but it’s a toned down version.

When I visit the north east, my speech stays the same for the first few days, but I do notice myself slipping back into my old accent after a week or so.

I think it's a case of how well you can empathicaly integrate into your new surroundings. If a fiercly proud, 20 year old, Yorkshireman moved to Ontario he would probably still have his original accent by the time he was 60.
To me, my accent doesn't matter all that much so it can start to change in a matter of weeks, if I'm immersed into a new accent pool.
My base accent is Cornish, so I always slip back into that a lot more quickly but I picked up a Kiwi accent in 4 months and had a slight Lancashire twang when I was at school and my main group of friends were all from Lancashire.

My family moved a LOT (all around the eastern US) when I was young, so no matter where I go, I sound different from any native.
I'm told I sound "British" and "Scottish", but I'd doubt those people are really familiar. The strange thing is, so many people say it.
I like it.

I've lived all over the US and I find that I have certainly picked up on local norms in terms of vocabulary and slang and small changes in pronunciation. I haven't really lived in any areas where there is a really marked regional accent, such as the South or New England, so there has been no pressure on me to change my basic accent, but I wouldn't be surprised if some minor sounds have been modified over the years.

I've met other people who have made some pretty strong accent modifications, such as an American girl who sounded very Scottish after a few years in Scotland and an Australian girl who sounded very American (I went to college with both), and a jamaican lady that I worked with who had no trace of an island accent. On the other hand, I've met people who retain their own accents no matter how long they've been exposed to a different environment. So I imagine it's a very individual thing.

My girlfriend is from Australia and been living in Scotland for 4 years, where people often have broad accents, and not a bit of similarity you can hear in her voice. On the other hand (which I find surprising), her English became "more standard", in a way she lost from her Australian accent, she never had much though.
The point is, she didn't pick up the accent she's been living around.

How likely is it that your accent will naturally change?

Guy: "For example, if you moved from one region of the US to another which had a different accent, how likely is it that your's will adapt? (*)Why is it that some people's accents change, but other's stay the same? "
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When one moves to an area where the language is different they are immersed in that language. If they do not have anyone that speaks their mother language with, they will pick up the new language, and begin to speak it, although they will have an accent because their tongue and throat learned a certain way to pronounce their words since birth. Almost as though our tongue, throat, and facial muscles grow, or develop, around our language of birth. In time, though, one will lose the accent more to begin to enunciate the new language words better; as the tongue learns through hearing. (*)This is involuntary, although to some it does seem as though they have a gift with learning pronunciations and intonations easier than others. This could be, in part, because of a conscious want. When one has a passion to do something they tend to naturally learn it easier than others that do it merely because they must.

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Guy: "Do accents actually change? Or do people just "learn" new accents that they only use when speaking in environments where people have that particular "new" dialect/accent?"
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The same applies to the English language with it's diverse accents and dialects. I have traveled to a couple of different English speaking countries, as well as all over the USA and Canada. Originally from British Columbia, Canada, I began with the western Canadian crisp annunciations of my words; very unlike the eastern Canadian provinces. I began to change in Hawai'i. (When I was in Hawai'i, I did both unconsciously, and consciously pick up the local slang so I could be better understood by the locals, and I do not use it unless I am in the presence of Hawai'ian people) First things first, I dropped the "eh," but never did the lose "oa" sound in my words like "house," "about," "out," etc., till I lived in the southern States of Louisiana, then Florida, and Georgia... Now it's more like, "abaowt." lol None of this was voluntary; it was just a transition of adapting to my environment and the sounds of my environment. I lived in Hawai'i, Seattle, Louisiana, Florida, Ghana West Africa, Georgia, and travelled all over Canada before that. (Also, while in Africa I did speak in a way as to be understood by the locals, and do not use that now)

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Guy: "I personally experiences cases where people have moved away to a different region and even when they return to visit, their accent is still their "new" one, and not their original."
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One could say that I now have an accent that has a wee bit of all of the dialects I have been immersed in, although the western Canadian still is detected above all by many.


So, yes, it is more than very likely that accents do change, but the mother language or accent will always be more predominant, either in strength or more subtly. The tongue is a powerful muscle, and it grew and formed in the way your mother language needed for it's pronunciation.

And I just shared an example that shows picking up an accent doesn't naturally or mandatorily happen. And I have no idea how my girlfriend has no Scottish accent but more of a "standard" one - which also means less Australian - her original one.
It doesn't make much sense since all the people around were Scottish ones.

This is an excellent example of how our accents will change but the form of our mouths and tongues may or may not be able to handle the change to sound like a local of the area we are adapting to. I thinks it's cool, and unique that she has her own, new accent developing from her immersion.

<How likely is it that your accent will naturally change?>

It's pretty obvious it depends on one's ability to mimic. Some newcomers pick the local accent very soon, others never.
I've known a woman who spoke a heavy mid-Russian accent after living over 40 years in Southern Ukraine.

I moved from Tennessee to Reno in 1980; my lady friend Cheryl S. moved from West Virginia to Reno the same year.

I lost touch with her for a while. When I saw her again about a year later, she had completely lost her accent; twenty-eight years later, my own accent clings like a stubborn barnacle on a ship. If I am not code-switching, I'd say I speak in a 50/50 Southern/Western accent. (While for several years, I detested my accent, in recent years I have learned to accept it to an extent.)

I have no idea why this phenomenon differs from person to person.